FIRST LIGHT LBT AO IMAGES of HR 8799 Bcde at 1.6 and 3.3 Μm: NEW DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN YOUNG PLANETS and OLD BROWN DWARFS∗
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The Astrophysical Journal, 753:14 (12pp), 2012 July 1 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/753/1/14 C 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. FIRST LIGHT LBT AO IMAGES OF HR 8799 bcde AT 1.6 AND 3.3 μm: NEW DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN YOUNG PLANETS AND OLD BROWN DWARFS∗ Andrew J. Skemer1,PhilipM.Hinz1, Simone Esposito2, Adam Burrows3, Jarron Leisenring4, Michael Skrutskie5, Silvano Desidera6,DinoMesa6, Carmelo Arcidiacono2,7, Filippo Mannucci2, Timothy J. Rodigas1, Laird Close1, Don McCarthy1, Craig Kulesa1, Guido Agapito2, Daniel Apai1,8, Javier Argomedo2, Vanessa Bailey1, Konstantina Boutsia9,10, Runa Briguglio2, Guido Brusa9, Lorenzo Busoni2, Riccardo Claudi6, Joshua Eisner1, Luca Fini2, Katherine B. Follette1, Peter Garnavich11, Raffaele Gratton6, Juan Carlos Guerra9,JohnM.Hill9, William F. Hoffmann1, Terry Jones12, Megan Krejny12, Jared Males1, Elena Masciadri2, Michael R. Meyer4, Douglas L. Miller9, Katie Morzinski1, Matthew Nelson5, Enrico Pinna2, Alfio Puglisi2, Sascha P. Quanz4, Fernando Quiros-Pacheco2, Armando Riccardi2, Paolo Stefanini2, Vidhya Vaitheeswaran1,JohnC.Wilson5, and Marco Xompero2 1 Steward Observatory, Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA 2 Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy 3 Department of Astronomy, Princeton University, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA 4 Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland 5 Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA 6 Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’ Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova, Italy 7 Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy 8 Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, 1629 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA 9 Large Binocular Telescope Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA 10 Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00040 Rome, Italy 11 Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA 12 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA Received 2012 February 24; accepted 2012 April 20; published 2012 June 8 ABSTRACT As the only directly imaged multiple planet system, HR 8799 provides a unique opportunity to study the physical properties of several planets in parallel. In this paper, we image all four of the HR 8799 planets at H band and 3.3 μm with the new Large Binocular Telescope adaptive optics system, PISCES, and LBTI/LMIRCam. Our images offer an unprecedented view of the system, allowing us to obtain H and 3.3 μm photometry of the innermost planet (for the first time) and put strong upper limits on the presence of a hypothetical fifth companion. We find that all four planets are unexpectedly bright at 3.3 μm compared to the equilibrium chemistry models used for field brown dwarfs, which predict that planets should be faint at 3.3 μm due to CH4 opacity. We attempt to model the planets with thick-cloudy, non-equilibrium chemistry atmospheres but find that removing CH4 to fit the 3.3 μm photometry increases the predicted L (3.8 μm) flux enough that it is inconsistent with observations. In an effort to fit the spectral energy distribution of the HR 8799 planets, we construct mixtures of cloudy atmospheres, which are intended to represent planets covered by clouds of varying opacity. In this scenario, regions with low opacity look hot and bright, while regions with high opacity look faint, similar to the patchy cloud structures on Jupiter and L/T transition brown dwarfs. Our mixed-cloud models reproduce all of the available data, but self-consistent models are still necessary to demonstrate their viability. Key words: brown dwarfs – instrumentation: adaptive optics – planetary systems – planets and satellites: atmospheres – stars: individual (HR 8799) Online-only material: color figures 1. INTRODUCTION ously is particularly powerful given their connected formation histories and appearances. Efforts are underway to characterize the first generation of HR 8799 is a young, A5V star with a λ Boo deficiency of directly imaged extrasolar planets. A principal focus has been heavy metals and three distinct circumstellar dust structures the HR 8799 planetary system (Marois et al. 2008, 2010), (Marois et al. 2008; Cowley et al. 1969; Gray & Kaye 1999;Su which with four planets is currently unique as a directly im- et al. 2009). There is some disagreement about the age of the aged multiple-planet system. Studying these planets simultane- system. Traditional age-dating methods, such as galactic space motion and Hertzsprung–Russell diagram position, suggest that HR 8799 has an age of 20–160 Myr (Moor´ et al. 2006; Marois ∗ The LBT is an international collaboration among institutions in the United et al. 2008; Hinz et al. 2010; Zuckerman et al. 2011), while States, Italy, and Germany. LBT Corporation partners are as follows: The ∼ University of Arizona on behalf of the Arizona university system; Istituto astroseismology estimates are more consistent with 1Gyr, Nazionale di Astrosica, Italy; LBT Beteiligungsgesellschaft, Germany, which would make the planets significantly more massive brown representing the Max-Planck Society, the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, and dwarfs (Moya et al. 2010). Interestingly, the dynamical stability Heidelberg University; The Ohio State University, and The Research of the planets themselves places upper limits on the masses of Corporation, on behalf of The University of Notre Dame, University of Minnesota, and University of Virginia. the planets (Fabrycky & Murray-Clay 2010; Moro-Mart´ın et al. 1 The Astrophysical Journal, 753:14 (12pp), 2012 July 1 Skemeretal. 2010; Sudol & Haghighipour 2012), which directly converts ular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI). Additionally, we describe to a young system age, based on the planets’ photometry and our data reduction procedure, which is an implementation of evolutionary models (Burrows et al. 1997; Chabrier et al. 2000). the Locally Optimized Combination of Images (LOCI) algo- An important implication of the relative youth and low masses rithm. In Section 3 we estimate photometry for the four planets, of the HR 8799 planets is that their appearances and atmospheric based on our LOCI reductions. In Section 4 we use our H- properties might be different than field brown dwarfs, which can band image to search for additional companions interior to HR have the same effective temperatures as giant planets while being 8799 e, taking advantage of the unprecedented contrast afforded older and more massive. Brown dwarf spectra have been used as by the LBT AO system. In Section 5 we present thick-cloud, proxies for giant planet spectra to plan direct imaging surveys non-equilibrium chemistry model atmospheres and mixed-cloud and to interpret early discoveries. However, initial results show atmospheres in an effort to explain the appearances of the that there are several key differences between the atmospheres HR 8799 planets. We conclude in Section 6 and make sugges- of giant exoplanets and brown dwarfs. tions for future work characterizing HR 8799 and other directly For field brown dwarfs, the L→T spectral-type transition imaged exoplanets. A companion paper, Esposito et al. (2012), occurs at ∼1200–1400 K, where dust clouds settle/condense describes the instrumental setup for the AO system and PISCES below the photosphere (Saumon & Marley 2008), and CO is in detail, provides an independent analysis of the H-band data converted to CH4 (Burrows et al. 2003; Geballe et al. 2002). For (along with new Ks-band data), and presents astrometry and a the HR 8799 planets, clouds are suspended in the photosphere new orbital analysis of the system. at lower effective temperatures (900–1200 K) than is typical for brown dwarfs (Currie et al. 2011; Madhusudhan et al. 2011; 2. OBSERVATIONS Barman et al. 2011a). Additionally, there appears to be more CO 2.1. PISCES H Band than CH4 relative to equilibrium chemistry models, implying that convection is mixing hot material into the photosphere We observed HR 8799 at H band (λ = 1.66 μm; FWHM = ↔ faster than the CO CH4 reaction can re-equilibrate (Hinz et al. 0.29 μm) with PISCES (McCarthy et al. 2001) on UT 2011 2010;Barmanetal.2011a). Similar but more extreme results October 16, during Science Verification Time for the LBT FLAO have been found for 2MASS 1207 b, a 5–7 Mjup companion to system. The LBT’s FLAO system (PI: Simone Esposito) is a a25Mjup TW Hya brown dwarf primary (Chauvin et al. 2004; 672-actuator deformable secondary AO system that makes use Skemer et al. 2011;Barmanetal.2011b). Evidently, the HR of an innovative pyramid wavefront sensor, producing high- 8799 planets and 2MASS 1207 b look similar to L-type brown Strehl-ratio, low-background images over a broad wavelength dwarfs, despite having effective temperatures more consistent range (Esposito et al. 2010, 2011). At the time of our obser- with T-type brown dwarfs. vations, one AO system was installed on the right telescope, Multiwavelength photometry and spectroscopy are the keys so for the observations presented in this paper, only one 8.4 m to understanding the differences between brown dwarfs and mirror is used. PISCES (PI: Don McCarthy) is a 1–2.5 μmim- giant planets. In particular, working over a broad wavelength ager with a Hawaii 1024 × 1024 HgCdTe array, which at the range is critical for understanding clouds, chemistry, and the LBT (single 8.25 m aperture) critically samples a diffraction- radiative budget of extrasolar planets. The challenge of working limited point-spread function (PSF) at H band (with a plate scale over a broad wavelength range is that adaptive optics (AO) sys- of 0.0193 pixel−1).